PNC Bank, NEA give St. Louis arts groups thousands in grants

David Gonsier as an owl and Levi Hernandez as Papageno in Opera Theatre of Saint Louis 2014 production of The Magic Flute.

Ken Howard | Opera Theatre of St. Louis

Today was a good day for St. Louis arts organizations. PNC Bank’s Arts Alive funding initiative announced it will distribute $250,000 to nine local groups. The National Endowment for the Arts also announced it would split $120,000 among three other groups.

The PNC funding will support innovative programming and improved accessibility to the arts. One recipient, the St. Louis Symphony, will use its $40,000 to create an app that teaches kids about classical instruments.

The project, which is under development, aims to create a program that allows kids to focus on a specific instrument and learn how that instrument fits into the context of the greater symphony.

“It’ll just allow them to engage in a new way that is education based and hopefully will inspire learning beyond the digital form,” said Sarah Rouland, a PNC vice president who manages the grant program.

The National Endowment for the Arts will donate $120,000 to three St. Louis organizations over the next year. Circus Harmony joins Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Shakespeare Festival as a grant recipient.

Opera Theatre will receive $90,000 to create a performance based on John Steinbeck’s "The Grapes of Wrath," with composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Michael Korie. Circus Harmony will use its funds to support its “Peace Through Pyramids” program. Shakespeare Festival will apply the funding to its regular programs.

The NEA has pledged a total $2 million to Missouri arts organizations.

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Gene Dobbs Bradford, executive director for Jazz St. Louis, stands in the Public Media Commons in Grand Center as the PNC Arts Alive grants are about to be awarded. He’s enjoying a chilly, sun-dappled morning and the chance to discuss the Jazz St. Louis programing related to jazz and baseball funded by this grant.

“This is our attempt to help people in the community draw connections to jazz in other parts of their lives,” said Dobbs Bradford.

Jazz St. Louis is one of 11 local arts organizations that each received upwards of $20,000.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon. - It’s no secret that crowdfunding — raising money, usually via the Internet, by appealing to large groups of donors — is reshaping philanthropy. Such sites as Kickstarter have allowed entrepreneurs and artists to access funds that would have previously been unavailable to them.

Now, thanks to the Arts and Education Council, crowdfunding in St. Louis is going local.